Tuesday, August 23, 2016

What were the bird and the speaker singing about in "The Rivals" by James Stephens?

In the poem "The Rivals" by James Stephens, a bird at dawn is singing sweetly in a tree about the dew on the lawn and the wind on the lea. But the speaker's not listening to the bird, because the bird isn't singing to him. At the same time, the speaker's also singing, which would make it difficult for him to listen to the bird even if the bird actually were singing to him. And what is the speaker singing about that prevents him from listening to the bird at dawn singing sweetly in a tree about the dew on the lawn and the wind on the lea? Why, the exact same thing as the bird! And he is singing "just as prettily."
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/rivals-9

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